Raipur, Dec 2 (IANS): After beating Australia by 20 runs in the fourth T20I to take an unassailable lead in the five-game series, India’s stand-in skipper Suryakumar Yadav was in praise of how his team expressed themselves in the match regardless of the situation they were put in.
Jitesh Sharma and Rinku Singh provided ample finishing touches for India, who were restricted to 174/9 by some spot-on bowling from Australia. In defense, Ravi Bishnoi and Axar Patel returned with overall figures of 4/33 in eight overs to keep Australia to 154/7.
“Other than toss everything went our way (laughs). Winning was the big boost, especially the way the boys showed character. Everyone expressed themselves irrespective of the situation, and that's what I told them: be fearless, play your game and we'll see what happens.”
“The plan was very clear, to bowl yorkers on the stumps and we'll take it from there. If that doesn't work, we'll see what happens,” said Suryakumar after the game ended at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium.
Bishnoi, who is leading the wicket charts for the series, credited Suryakumar and bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule for giving him ample support in succeeding with the ball. “When SKY gave me the ball I was ready to bowl. I've been very happy with my bowling all series.”
“The atmosphere in this dressing room is great, we're all of similar age and have played together a lot. Sairaj Bahutule (bowling coach) backs our strengths and backs us 100%, he says feel free to try new things that you're sure about.”
Australia skipper Matthew Wade was also in praise of the bowling show from Bishnoi and Axar. "Their spinners bowled really, really well. They got us tied down and we couldn't really break away through in that middle period. We just didn't play spin very well in the middle and lost few too many wickets so that left Tim David with too much to do."
"So that was probably the biggest difference in the game. Bishnoi, obviously, has been great throughout the four games. He has been quite hard to get a hold of. Some of our guys with less experience will learn a lot from facing him. Patel is a class player, he has been a class bowler for a very, very long time."
"The bowlers coming in did a very good job, Dwarshuis did a very good job, they did really stand up. We want to continue to learn about the players under the established players since the World Cup is around the corner, so depth around the squad will be key."